The article appeared in the UMIST Times, Vol.19, No.3, 3 November 1997

Students Boogying for Science

60 UMIST students went to Cardington, about 170 miles Southeast of Manchester, to attend a jumping up-and-down test on Saturday, 18 October 1997.

This was the largest controlled experiment yet conducted in a unique full size eight storey steel framed test building which occupies a small part of the largest enclosed laboratory in the world. The Cardington Large Scale Test Facility is a part of the Building Research Establishment Ltd (BRE).

In response to music, a large group of people can jump at the same frequency (the beat frequency) and produce a large co-ordinated dynamic load, such as those seen in pop concerts and some sports events. However, even if all the people in a crowd try to jump at the same frequency, their co-ordination will not be perfect which will attenuate the resulting structural response. This is called the dynamic crowd effect. The objective of the tests was to examine this effect in a controlled experiment which required a group of people and an appropriate test building.

The original idea was to combine theoretical capability at UMIST and experimental capability at BRE to try to answer some important questions related to structural design. Then it was felt that it was possible to combine research and education to benefit the both for the subject to be investigated. Students’ involvement would make the large scale test possible and help the research work. Students would be happy to know that their involvement would contribute to the technical basis for British Standards. In addition, students would take the opportunity to visit the test site including a full size test building and the Laboratory, to encounter actual research in structural engineering in the UK and therefore to supplement their classroom studies.

To provide background information for the visit, a pre-visit talk was given at the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering and a seminar was held at the Cardington Laboratory. A tour of the laboratory was also conducted.

The experiment was well organised by BRE and everything went smoothly. Students had a long day, -- they left UMIST at 9:20am and returned at 9:20pm.

Thanks to these students who attended the jumping up-and-down test!